Clario release Great Cyber Surrender report

Cybercrime is rampant in the UK. 21% of Britons have already been a victim of cybercrime, with the average victim losing £1,276, according to new research commissioned by Clario, The Great Cyber Surrender report looks at how the British police and the government have abandoned cybercrime victims.

Clario research: Victims interviewed 

As part of the research, 20 victims were interviewed about their experience and 11 cybercrime experts from a variety of different professional backgrounds shared their perspectives on the issue.

In addition, around 4,000 citizens from the UK and US were surveyed on their views and experiences with cybercrime.

“The actual numbers are likely to be higher as seven in every ten victims didn’t report the crimes they’ve been exposed to. We also anticipate these numbers will increase as the UK officially leaves the EU next month”, says Scarlet Jeffers, VP of Experience at a cybersecurity firm Clario.

Scarlet adds that “leaving the European Union means that the UK also departs Europol, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation.

The UK used to be the leader in modernising the institution, and many of the current structures and processes are the result of the UK’s influence.

Not being part of this body doesn’t make it easier for UK law enforcement to keep up with the evolving threat landscape.

In an age when international cooperation is more important than ever to deal with cybercrime, the UK loses access to databases and intelligence sharing infrastructures, which leaves consumers more vulnerable.”

“As experts, we knew of the threat cybercrime presents, of course, yet we’ve been surprised by the scale of the issue as well as the emotional damage victims experience.

In their current format, cyber policing and legislative action in the United Kingdom are inadequate and leave victims unprotected.

As changes in this arena usually take a long time, we call on the government to immediately launch a public awareness campaign to educate all of the UK’s citizens about the dangers of cybercrime and how they can protect themselves and their families.

Additionally, we strongly urge the Government to launch a National Reporting Hotline at the same time, so victims are enabled to report crimes they’ve fallen victim to.”, Scarlet adds.

She concludes “The measures we put forward are part of eight consecutive actions we’ve identified with our research that will enable victims to get the support they need and include necessary national legal changes.

With regard to Brexit, the most important action for the Government is now quickly coming to an agreement with the EU, to ensure British police forces retain access to European intelligence and joint investigative work.”

Clario recommended action for the UK Government:

1. Establish and promote a National Reporting Hotline for fraud and cybercrime, with a simple three-digit number, e,g, ‘110 for Cybercrime’

2. Establish a National Fraud Taskforce, staffed with specialist investigators, with responsibility for investigating cybercrime cases.

3. Roll out Victim Care Squads nationally, staffed with specialist advocates, to provide support and advice to victims of cybercrime.

4. Legally oblige banks to pass anonymised information to the new National Reporting Hotline, whenever their customers are victimised by cybercrime.

5. Establish a legal duty that, whenever a data breach occurs, businesses must provide customers with timely, step-by-step guidance on how to protect themselves and must also introduce remedial security measures – such as mandatory multi-factor authentication on customer accounts.

6. Mandate basic cybersecurity education within schools to increase digital literacy, awareness, and knowledge of protection.

7. Clario wants to introduce a national campaign to educate adults on cybersecurity, based around the launch of the new National Reporting Hotline.

8. Reach effective security and policing agreements with the EU, following Brexit, to ensure British police forces retain access to European intelligence and joint investigative work.

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